In October of last year, Lenovo made waves when it unseated Hewlett-Packard as the number one PC maker. Unfortunately, the PC market is failing quite miserably with the advent of tablets and tablet hybrids, and because of this shift, HP was able to dethrone Lenovo and take the coveted spot once again.

According to research firm Gartner, in the fourth quarter of 2012, HP was able to ship 16.2 percent of PCs while Lenovo was only able to ship 15.5 percent. Both companies were still able to beat 2011’s shipment of 15.5 percent and 13.6 percent respectively. As the numbers showed, HP clearly took back the lead from Lenovo but overall, sales of PCs from both companies are still weak. As mentioned earlier, it’s because of tablets.

Rise of the tablets

PC shipments took the biggest hit in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which fell by 9.6 percent in the previous quarter, shipping only 28.1 million units. While in the US, PC shipments fell 2.1 percent to 17.5 million units. The drop is attributed to the fact that PC owners chose to buy a new high-end or even low-end tablet instead of upgrading or buying a new, much more advanced PC.

“Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by cannibalizing PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs,” Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner, said in the report. “This transformation was triggered by the availability of low-cost tablets in 2012.”

Tablets are now able to perform almost the same tasks as a PC, the added perks being lower costs and portability. Even hardcore gamers can now enjoy using a tablet to pacify their gaming needs on the go with the likes of Razer Edge. In this day and age, there’s really a tablet for everyone – from people looking for a cheap, affordable tablet that’s minute in size, to someone looking for something as powerful as a PC.